Back then he never considered coaching. The irony, of course, is that few in the history of Hernando County have done it better.

Sims was among eighth inductees to the Hernando High Sports Hall of Fame in October, a worthy selection based on the over 300 victories his teams have accumulated on the diamond.

“You look at all the athletes you saw (at the induction), I’m appreciative first and foremost to the Hall of Fame committee,” Sims said. “It was a fun night and I’m very thankful to the committee and it has a special place inside of me that’ll always be there.”

The Leopards come-from-behind 6-4 victory at Springstead Tuesday night, improving their record to 6-0, pushed Sims’ career mark to 320-211. But that’s only half his story.

“I have tons of respect for the man, not even for the fact he’s won over 300 games,” Central athletic director/head baseball coach Al Sorrentino said. “It’s just the fact he does things the right way.

“We’re in the business of teaching kids life lessons and he’s always been about that. Fortunately for him, he’s able to coach the heck out of a baseball team, so he’s been able to win a few games, too.”

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Only one other baseball coach in county history has ever surpassed 300 victories. That would be Tom Varn, who had three stints coaching the Leopards spanning the late ’40s through the early ’70s.

Varn’s exact win total has been difficult to determine, though it’s believed to be somewhere in the 350-400 range.

Though Varn guided Hernando to its lone state championship in baseball, in 1967, even his run didn’t feature as many Elite Eight appearances as Sims’ six – including the past four seasons in a row.

The Leopards have also claimed seven district titles during Sims’ tenure.

“That’s all about the players,” Sims said.

Sims can relate to the young men he now mentors because he once walked in their shoes. As impressive as his coaching resume reads, he was one of the better players to come through the program.

Born in Ocilla, Ga., Sims became a Brooksville resident when his family moved from Tallahassee in 1967.

His father, Joe, worked in insurance, though a year later he and his brother Mike would start up what would grow into the Sims Furniture Galleries chain in the downtown area.

Tim Sims received his first taste of baseball as a batboy, after his father was persuaded by Hernando Youth League founder Ernie Wever to coach a team sponsored by the local Rotary club.

He eventually started playing in HYL at age 8. As an 11- and 12-year-old, he played for his father, who had built a friendly rivalry at the time with a young youth coach by the name of Ernie Chatman.

Eventually Chatman would become Sims’ coach, both at Hernando and in HYL, and predecessor.

Sims was Hernando’s starting shortstop as well as a pitcher for three seasons. He also played basketball as a sophomore and senior, though baseball is where he made his mark.

As a senior in 1982, he hit .475 and went 10-2 on the mound, earning district Player of the Year and All-State honors from the Florida Athletic Coaches Association.

He additionally was the Tom Fisher Award recipient, presented to the school’s top multi-sport participant for combined athletic and academic achievement.

That baseball season the Leopards went 30-5 and were ranked first in the state, having knocked off previously top-ranked teams Tampa Catholic and Tallahassee-Leon on the road.

“Tim was a coach on the field,” Chatman said. “He was a leader then and you knew then that this guy would make a good coach if he decided to be one.

“He did a lot of things on the field. People remember him as a shortstop, but for us he was our number one pitcher his junior and senior year. He lost some ballgames but all of them were one-run ballgames. That goes unnoticed for him. He was a little bit of a bulldog. He threw fairly hard with a good breaking ball.

“He was just a natural as far as being a shortstop. He had good agility. He was able to make off-balance throws. He made routine plays. He was always ready to play.”

Sims’ memories of attending Hernando start with the principal, Ed Poore, who had been the principal for his particular class from first grade on up.

“There was accountability, there was leadership and there was honesty,” Sims said. “And those three things tell you about Ed Poore and how things went back then.”

Meanwhile Sims was garnering partial offers to play baseball at Florida, Florida State and Duke, though the first two wanted him as a pitcher.

Still, Sims opted to sign with Seminole Community College, now Seminole State College of Florida.

Sims and three friends, John Ed Haull, David Looper and Eddie Looper, tried out at Valencia Community College in Orlando, though only two were given offers. Seminole, which had an established pipeline with Hernando, extended offers to all four.

For the next two years the quartet played together for the Raiders in Sanford.

“That was a learning experience,” Sims said. “That’s where basically every player gets to in life where they realize talent only gets you so far. You better learn to outwork people and get smarter and stronger.”

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The Montreal Expos selected Sims in the eighth round (196th overall) of the 1984 January Amateur Draft. They offered him $10,000, but instead he decided to join his best friend Eddie Looper in signing with the University of Alabama.

“I had busted my butt for two years to survive and I wanted to play in the SEC,” Sims said.

After hitting .304 as a junior and .280 as a senior, he graduated and signed as a free agent with the San Jose Bees, an unaffiliated Class-A minor league team at the time.

He played 24 games for the Bees, living on the campus of San Jose State University.

“I wouldn’t have missed it. It was a blast. The speed of the game increased even more over college,” Sims said. “It was a grind, but I wouldn’t trade it.”

Following his release, he attended a few tryouts, including one with the Boise Hawks. They chose another player instead of him, and inadvertently changed the course of prep baseball history in Hernando County.

“Halfway up the (Florida) Turnpike I threw all my stuff over the guardrail and said, ‘I’m done,'” said Sims of his reaction after the Boise tryout.

Just one problem: the competitive juices still flowed. So he turned to coaching.

At first he was an assistant and then head coach for the intramural team at Pasco-Hernando Community College, phoning coaches who had previously recruited him to set up games.

That lasted for four years, from 1988-91, and in the meantime he helped out with Chatman’s summer program at Hernando, before serving as a full varsity assistant in 1992-93.

When Chatman stepped down, Sims grabbed the reins in 1994. A team that featured current Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Bronson Arroyo won back-to-back district titles Sims’ first two years, advancing to a regional final in 1995.

He would remain head coach through the 2006 season, and the Leopards would capture district crowns again in 2000 and 2004, getting back to the Elite Eight in the latter.

A store manager within the family furniture business, Sims’ hectic schedule forced him to resign and hand over the team to longtime assistant Donnie Whitehead in 2007-08.

When Whitehead accepted an assistant coaching position at St. Johns River State College, Sims returned to the dugout for the 2009 campaign.

That team went 7-20, though as Sims pointed out the Leopards lost 13 one-run games. Over the next four seasons, they went a combined 89-32, with three district titles, four regional appearances and a trip to the Final Four in 2012.

Despite losing every 2013 regular starter to graduation, Hernando had gotten off to an unbeaten start this year heading into Thursday’s game against Citrus.

Prior to the season, Sims’ contemporaries warned not to underestimate his club.

Count current Nature Coast head coach Mike Ellison as someone who holds Sims in high regard. Ellison, who has been a head coach previously at Hernando, Hernando Christian Academy and Central, experienced Sims’ style up close when his grandson, J.T. Simpson, recently played for the Leopards.

“I’ve known him since he was in high school,” Ellison said of Sims. “He was a great kid and I think he’s a great man.

“His devotion to the kids (makes him a successful coach). He always says to me, ‘Pappy, it’s about the kids.'”

Chatman, a FACA Hall of Famer and the current Nature Coast softball coach, also admires the work of his former pupil.

“I appreciate the passion he has for the game,” Chatman said. “He enjoys what he’s doing. He’s one that really meshes well with the players and they respect him and play hard for him, and what else can you ask for?”

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Now that he’s back in the saddle, and has a realistic shot in the next few years to become the county’s first coach to reach 400 wins, just how long will Sims stick around?

He raised two daughters, Sarah Elizabeth and Anna Katherine, with his wife of 25 years, Cindy. At 49, he has a 3-year-old grandson, Lakai.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Sims said. “Right now it’s something so much a part of your life and it’s relaxing. I use it as a stress-reliever.”

In addition to the high school, Sims remains strongly connected to HYL, where he helped the Majors (ages 17-19) win a World Series in 1983.

Currently he’s the league’s director for Majors and Pre-Majors (ages 13-15) baseball, and has been involved at the state level in the past.

So Sims is still very much ingrained in the local landscape. According to Hernando’s athletic director and softball coach, Kevin Bittinger, Sims won’t be leaving anytime soon.

“You look at a guy like Tim Sims, you can’t measure his importance to Hernando High School, not only to the school but the athletic programs and the baseball program,” Bittinger said.

“He’s just such a class act. Everything he does, he does it with such character. Those kids are not just learning to play baseball in his program; they’re learning to become young men.

“When you’ve got a guy like Tim Sims, I tell him I hope he sticks around to coach my boys in baseball, because I’m not letting him go anywhere,” added Bittinger, whose sons are still in elementary school. “He’s a staple in the community, and you don’t see that very often.”

As his Springstead boys basketball team made a seemingly improbable march toward the state title game in 2009, head coach Pat Kelly often repeated one particular saying.

It was a mantra he said he borrowed from Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin – though it was actually a paraphrase of the ending of the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, about the team having miles to go before it could sleep.

After 27 years of serving this county, Sunday’s edition marks the final mile for Hernando Today.

It began on Nov. 11, 1987, and on that day the sports pages included stories about a district cross country meet, overcrowded boat ramps in Hernando Beach, a Springstead-Lecanto football game and Hernando High’s star running back, Tyrone Woods.

Woods wasn’t a bad choice to be the first athlete ever featured by this paper. Following his graduation from Hernando in 1988, he went on to play professional baseball for 21 seasons before retiring in 2008.

Though he never reached the majors in this country, he did club 538 home runs over his career, achieving prominence in Japan where he was a three-time Home Run King and two-time RBI King. In 2011, he was inducted into the Hernando High Sports Hall of Fame.

The football recap that ran in the inaugural issue was penned by Ted Swing Jr., the paper’s original sports editor.

Aside from a brief foray into teaching at Springstead, during which he remained connected to Hernando Today as a correspondent, Swing held the sports editor title until his departure in 2003.

Still living in the area, Swing reflected back on those early days, before computer software became the means of laying out a newspaper, when photos were still taken on film and the county only had three public high schools.

“We were kind of cautious at first, but it was very well-received by the county, which was a very big thing for us,” Swing said. “I enjoyed it while it lasted. People in a little rural county like this appreciate it a lot more. Our bread and butter were youth sports and prep sports. It was kind of fun. You got to know the people and they appreciated it.

“For me, it was the youth leagues and seeing those kids grow up and evolve.”

Local youth leagues, such as Spring Hill Dixie Baseball and Softball, have grown to the point of competing for state and even World Series championships. But Swing remembers when they were just getting started, and the paper afforded them a platform to get the word out.

“It’s too bad for the county. I don’t know how it’s going to pan out,” Swing said of Hernando Today’s closing. “I think maybe, especially starting with the younger kids, it gave them motivation, made the marginally interested kids be a little more interested. I know coaches and parents and everybody appreciated the effort at that level.”

Looking back

Officially, my full-time tenure at Hernando Today began on Aug. 11, 2003. But I was first affiliated with the paper while attending Springstead in the late ‘90s, when Swing brought me on as a correspondent.

Neither of us could possibly know then that I would eventually be doing his job.

When I was hired as a staff sports reporter, I was 22 and fresh out of college. I had spent a couple months proving myself as a correspondent, mostly covering Dixie Baseball.

It was an unusual baptism by fire, or more accurately rainwater. I was assigned to cover a Dixie Baseball AAA Majors (ages 11-12) district tournament in Webster.

The facility had only one usable field for that age group, an issue exacerbated by a rough week of weather.

With little time before the state tournament, officials were forced to go to great lengths to squeeze in games, some of them going on well past midnight. Oh, and there was no press box. So I sat underneath a tent set up for the official scorer, exposed to high humidity while swatting away the legion of insects that all the moisture had attracted.

Obviously, the experience wasn’t a total loss. I got the job. I also met some good people, including the photographer who endured it all with me, Joe DiCristofalo, and a young man watching his brother play, named Danny Aiello.

Joe takes photos for us to this day, and Danny became one of our correspondents a few years ago, and even as they’ll no longer fulfill those roles I can still call them my friends.

So I’ve certainly gained more than a paycheck and professional experience at this gig.

When I started, Nature Coast Technical had just opened its doors and, for better or worse depending on who’s talking, irrevocably altered the county’s athletic landscape.

Those early days seem to generate particularly bitter feelings toward the magnet school, especially as some of its high-profile sports teams quickly began finding success.

Even now, Nature Coast versus any county school often generates a large crowd and electric atmosphere. The chant “N-C-what? N-C-T” was echoed by the Shark faithful, while the opposing team’s fans would respond by replacing the “T” with some unfriendly words.

I remember a Nature Coast-Springstead boys basketball game in December 2006, when both teams had risen to the top of the district, and the Sharks’ gym was so packed and boisterous that then baseball coach Dan Garofano’s announcing of the starters had an NBA feel. That contest lived up to its billing, with the Eagles pulling out an overtime triumph.

Five years later, the same schools met at Springstead for a huge volleyball match. The home crowd yelled “Over-rated!” at Nature Coast’s Tulane signee Courtney Liddle, who embraced the energy in the building and responded with a big night to lead the Lady Sharks to victory.

Covering games like that, this didn’t feel like work, and those soggy late nights at Webster were all worth it.

But it wasn’t all fun. The biggest story, hands down, while I’ve been here took place in 2008. Nature Coast was 9-0 in football, looking like a team capable of becoming the county’s first to advance to the Final Four.

Then the lights went out late in a game at Groveland-South Lake – literally. As darkness set in, benches cleared. In the end, both teams had to forfeit the remainder of their seasons, which meant the Sharks, having already won their district, couldn’t compete in the playoffs.

It was a story that had news outlets from here to Orlando converging on Nature Coast. I was there, in the hallways of the gym, as the players trudged out of the classroom where coaches had gathered them to inform them of the FHSAA’s final decision.

That was a dark day, no pun intended, for the school and the county. Over the years, the animosity toward Nature Coast has died down. That’s a good thing.

So, too, is the rise in postseason success around these parts. Not long ago, just getting there and winning a game seemed liked a massive accomplishment.

But after Springstead reached the boys basketball state championship game in 2009, Nature Coast followed by advancing to at least the Elite Eight in four of the past five years and the Final Four in 2012.

Nature Coast’s volleyball team went to two straight regional finals in 2010-11. Hernando baseball advanced that far four years in a row (2010-13) with a state semifinal appearance in 2011.

Springstead baseball went to the Elite Eight in 2013, as well, and later that calendar year so did its football squad, just as the Lady Eagles in 2012 and Hernando Lady Leopards the past two seasons did in softball.

Even in girls soccer, Nature Coast was a regional finalist in 2013, further proof that such postseason runs have become the norm rather than the exception.

None of that even takes into account the three consecutive state crowns won by Springstead wrestling from 2011-13.

There’s also been a noticeable uptick in high-level talent in this county. There seems to be multiple Division I signees every school year now, and it has been a pleasure following their athletic endeavors.

My last feature story at Hernando Today, which ran in Thursday’s edition, was on former Central basketball player Alex Ruoff. That wasn’t a random choice. He was one of the first athletes I wrote about extensively.

But there have been plenty more. Rae-Lynn Sheffield, Kyle Swanston, DuJuan Harris, Christian Arroyo, Tyler Bergantino, Raqurra Ishmar, Tikiera Relaford are just a few off the top of my head.

I still marvel at the drive and focus of Harris, or “Foxx” as everyone calls him. He won two state track championships his senior year, and was more upset about his two running events in which he failed to get out of prelims.

I couldn’t help but admire his determination, and was glad to see it pay off for him in the NFL.

Opportunities

This job has afforded me some wonderful opportunities. Thanks to Bronson Arroyo, I was able to cover a Major League Baseball game.

I got to write an article on my own father, Chris Bernhardt Sr., when he bowled a 300 game, and wish my mom, Lori Bernhardt, a Happy Mother’s Day while on the radio.

I got to work alongside one of my best friends, Derek LaRiviere of the Tampa Bay Times, on numerous occasions.

I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people, and the overwhelming majority of those experiences were positive ones.

Among all the coaches I’ve dealt with, I can probably count the number I haven’t gotten along with on one hand, and not need all my fingers. There’s no way I can thank them all individually for their cooperation and support, though certain things do stand out.

There’s my seventh-grade math teacher Bill Vonada, football coach at Springstead and now Hernando, so adept at conducting an interview he would leave quotes on my voicemail. I remember as a student, he had some lean years at Powell and Springstead, but he did things his way, focused on “building young men of character,” and still managed to build a winning program in the process.

Or there’s Ernie Chatman, a remarkable coach and a remarkable man with a remarkable memory that I’ve leaned on many times.

Julie and Wayne Withington’s commitment to keeping swimming alive in this county, as uphill a battle as it is, has always been admirable. So, too, are Mike Drummond’s tireless efforts running athletics at Hernando Christian Academy.

Then there’s Tim Sims, Hernando baseball coach and master of the coaching cliché. It starts on the bump. Short memories for a long time. Players win, coaches lose. But you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who better represents the epitome of a great mentor or advocate for his community.

I could go on and on, and I sincerely apologize to anyone I left out. I could also speak volumes about my wonderful coworkers and colleagues over the years, but there are far too many to name them all individually.

We’ve had hard-working sports correspondents such as Marty Miller, Jim Redmile, Alice Herden, Tim Neddy and the aforementioned Danny Aiello who each made valuable contributions for little monetary gain.

Don Brown, our graphics editor, has done such a spectacular job making things like our All-County teams and football previews visually stunning.

But I have to reserve some space to talk about the two guys with whom I have been professionally tethered these past 11 years.

As I mentioned before, I met Joe DiCristofalo in Webster. Like me he had just caught on with Hernando Today and thus we have essentially grown up together within the business.

For nearly 12 years, Joe has quite simply made us all look good. His award-winning photography has defined Hernando Today sports as much as anything.

Without Joe, I’m not sure how we could have survived. It has been many years since the sports department had access to a staff photographer and so we’ve had to lean heavily on Joe, who is a correspondent that doesn’t do this for a living but rather his enjoyment of the craft and the people.

If Joe can make it, he’s there, which is saying something considering he already has to juggle his own business and family. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for all that he’s done.

Finally, there is Tony Castro, the man who hired me back in 2003, served as sports editor for eight years until 2011, and has continued on as a correspondent ever since.

There is nobody with a greater passion for Hernando County sports than Tony, and likely no one who knows more about its history. He has exhibited an unflappable work ethic and commitment to chronicling the tales of local athletes to the fullest extent possible.

I thank Tony for giving me an opportunity at Hernando Today when I was a green college grad hoping to work in my hometown, just as I thank Ted Swing for doing the same when I was just a kid with a dream of becoming a sports writer.

It has been my honor and privilege to play a small role in this community I’ve called home for the past 28 years. I hope to keep doing so in some capacity moving forward, but time will tell what the future holds for me. I thank everyone for the kind words of support this past month.

As for Hernando Today, sadly the end has arrived. So I think back to Pat Kelly and those words that he spoke.

Indeed, the zero-mile marker is upon us, the time to lie this all to rest, leaving just two things left to say.

An English proverb says, “All good things must come to an end.” Such is the case with the Dec. 1 shuttering of Hernando Today.

This publication began as a green sheet offering product discounts nearly 30 years ago.

As the county’s two older newspapers – including the Brooksville Sun Journal – closed their doors by 1992, Hernando Today morphed from its humble roots as a weekly to a burgeoning daily publication in less than 15 years.

That was until today.

To understand how I progressed to this point, let’s trace my beginnings.

My journalistic roots began in the Sunshine State in 1984 after relocating from Los Angeles to Pasco County following the 1984 Summer Olympics or the Games of XXIII.

It was during my tenure as sports editor of the weekly The Zephyrhills News that I crossed paths with Bulldog football coach Barry Gardner.

Gardner helped resuscitate Zephyrhills football. After his first season at the helm in 1985, Gardner explained, “I didn’t come here to go (expletive) 3-7.” And he never did.

Three consecutive winning seasons followed before he packed for a neighboring county, landing a gig at Hernando County’s brand new Central High.

Seemingly at every turn before he left, the former Jacksonville native encouraged me to relocate.

Instead, my life’s compass drew me to the Winter Haven News Chief and then a stint with a public relations firm in Lakeland before returning to Pasco County.

He laid the cards on the table, saying he was “tired of the office politics” and would remain on board for another year or possibly 18 months.

True to his word, 18 months later, as Swing departed, I was tabbed sports editor.

That run lasted until just prior to Christmas 2011, when Media General, who owned the Florida Communications Group, aka Hernando Today, at the time, parted itself with nearly one-fifth of the Florida workforce.

Due to the downturn locally in the economy – especially with the housing market going south –

many of us weren’t fired per se; instead our full-time jobs were simply eliminated. Pooffffffff. Just like that. Welcome to 21st-century Corporate America.

To make a living since then I’ve written for The Tampa Tribune and the Citrus County Chronicle and with Hernando Today – until today.

I can’t tell you how many countless stories, briefs, columns and lives I’ve been fortunate to be a part of.

My first story for Brooksville-based Hernando Today was the Class 1A, District 5 Boys Golf Tournament at Scotland Yards in Oct. 23, 2000. Hernando finished fifth in a solid field.

Fourteen years later, this final column signals my last piece.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say goodbye to a pair of prep mentors that shaped my life in Hernando County, but are no longer among us: Gardner and Pat McCoy.

Same with former Spring Hill Dixie Baseball co-director Helen Keith, who’s got to be smiling down on how her tiny rec league has blossomed.

At the height of Hernando Today’s sports page popularity, we had 10 correspondents and one full-timer (Chris Bernhardt Jr.) under my wing.

Any administrator is only as efficient as the surrounding staff. With that said I feel fortunate to have hired three folks that enabled me to put together a terrific product for public consumption: photographers Cathy Kapulka and Joe DiCristofalo along with Bernhardt.

I could never repay that trio with the amount of respect for their due diligence, their thinking “outside the box,” their loyalty and the character they proved under at best the difficult times in this business

Whenever a newspaper closes, that community’s voice, its pulse, is silenced. I know not what the future holds for me or anybody else.

On the eve of the 42nd season of Hernando County’s most successful sport – prep wrestling –

both Springstead and Nature Coast Technical appear poised to make headlines while Central, Hernando and Weeki Wachee rebuild after personnel losses.
Springstead senior Michael McDonald (top) returns as a defending state champion, among seven returning seniors for the Eagles as they seek to improve upon last year’s third-place finish at states. Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

For any high school program, placing third at states would be a huge accomplishment. It would trigger a massive celebration, right?

Yet the Mariner Boulevard-based Eagles are anything but typical.

Two winters ago this was the program that hoisted its third straight state championship trophy in Class 2A at The Lakeland Center.

How significant was the achievement? Imagine no Hernando County program in 90 years has ever hoisted two state crowns in one sport.

The Spring Hill mat men have collected more district titles (28) than most schools have collectively sitting in their trophy cases – including a Hernando County-record tying 10 in a row.

After SHS placed third at states last winter, 181 points behind Brandon and 20 points behind state-runner-up Tampa-Jesuit, the Eagles feel rejuvenated this winter.

Despite the loss of one of its all-time aircraft carriers, four-time state placer and two-time defending state champion Jordan Rivera (a career mark of 162-23), and state qualifiers Corey Humphrey and Vincent Buonanno, there’s plenty of optimism.

Ross (84-14 overall), a two-time All-County selection in wrestling and four-time pick in football, missed the entire 2013-14 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament tear. He’s completely recovered and paced the county in tackles this fall.

Landgraff (118-23, 70 pins), who was penciled in to reach the FHSAA Finals, was 0.1 over during weigh-ins (the first time he’d ever missed weight) prior to the regional meet at Brandon and therefore had his third postseason run curtailed.

SHS’ growing enthusiasm is based on a sea of fresh faces (41) in the wrestling room. As a result, the Eagles will fill a complete junior varsity team for the first time in years.

Yet, the task ahead for the North Suncoast’s finest mat program is arduous to say the least.

Legendary coach Russ Cozart’s Brandon High team has reeled off 14 consecutive state championships in a row, and holds the state record with 25 overall.

Besides Brandon, 2A also features a loaded Jesuit, perennial power Lakeland-Lake Gibson and Jensen Beach.

“At this point, I see seven seniors and seven young guys,” summed up third-year SHS skipper Sal Basile. “But I feel real excited at where we’re at. It’s a completely different feeling than I had going into last season.

“One big thing is our football guys have been with us since their season ended,” he said. “That helps us build the competition in the room from top to bottom. Another big boost is our overall numbers are way up. That huge freshman class has a lot to do with that.”

The additional numbers have Basile euphoric.

“I’m even excited about having a 20-man JV team,” Basile said. “There are some real athletic-looking kids in that group.”

The Eagles’ main concern is a traditional one: health.

Like every mentor, Basile hopes his team avoids major injuries and peaks for the March 13-14 state finals set for Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.

Basile deflected any chatter about his team’s county supremacy.

“I’m focusing on what we can do,” he said. “Nature Coast has an older group, Weeki Wachee’s numbers are up and I hear Hernando has a lot of young talent. We’ve got some hammers and we’ll see the county teams at Kiwanis and our place.”

In the postseason, Citrus, which finished as 2A-5 runner-up to SHS, will host districts on Feb. 28.

The following week, 2A’s hierarchy clashes in one stout regional – again set for Brandon.

“South Lake has 3-4 good kids, so that will pump up districts,” noted Basile, Hernando Today’s defending Coach of the Year. “Belleview has guys back, too. Our depth should benefit us. Right now, our lineup is much more solid than it was last year.”

In regionals, “Our region (2A-II) is lights out,” described Basile, a two-time state qualifier at Springstead. “Our goal hasn’t changed; it’s to win regions and states. Last year, we were in a hole before we got to both.”

“This group has the potential to be our best-ever team,” declared Lastra, who is 152-131 overall. “We’ve got a lot of experience and losing the district title so close last year has remained with us. We’re equipped for this year.

“Our goals are to finish in the top three of every tournament we compete in; there are no excuses,” insisted Lastra. “We have to own what we do on the mats; it’s on us and everything starts with me.”

According to Lastra, NCT’s main weapons are Espinosa, Gray and Contegiacomo, or at least until the football players get in shape.

On the county picture, “Springstead is still at the top, but our goal is to compete with them,” said Lastra, a former state qualifier and alumnus from Central. “Hernando will do well because they have some numbers. Weeki Wachee has some solid kids, but I don’t know about their depth.”

As far as 1A-6, “Pasco is the team to beat until someone knocks them off,” Lastra emphatically stated. “It’s a 10-team district and I hear Anclote and Gulf have a lot of kids out.

“Right now, our kids are hungry. I see a fire that was missing last year,” detailed Lastra. “The key for our success is to own up to our potential and our guys can’t lose sight of working hard.”

❖ ❖ ❖
Few fans or pundits, for that matter, realize locally that last season’s finest 1A finishers in the county were from Hernando High.

Former Leopard standout David Pritz guided the Purple and Gold to an eighth-place finish.

HHS was paced by a superb 1-2 finish by seniors Jesse Gaudin (163 career victories) and Brennan Ertl (117). That dynamic duo competed for four years and accumulated 263 career wins, including 140 pins.

Of the seven, only Webber at 27-21 with nine pins returns with a winning record from last winter.

Optimism on the Bell Avenue campus stems from the Leopards’ other 33 wrestlers in the room.

“This is my third season and my most competitive lineup top to bottom,” noted Pritz, who is 25-40 lifetime at HHS. “What I like most? We have a lot of kids in the room, a lot of good character kids and they’re all working hard.”

In losing Gaudin and Ertl to graduation, “Those are two huge holes we’ve got to fill,” said Pritz.

With such a massive amount of grapplers, Pritz’s main concerns are keeping the kids out and remaining healthy.

County-wise, Pritz sees no change at the top with Springstead followed by NCT, “But I think we’ll be competitive,” he said.

In 1A-6, “Its Pasco and Nature Coast,” detailed Pritz. “I don’t know where we’ll fall until we get on the mats for real. We’ve only got one senior and we’re a better dual team than individual team.

“For our success, we have to be confident when our guys step on the mats,” he stressed. “The guys have to believe in themselves before they walk out there.”

WWHS lost six lettermen, including four seniors: Dante Padilla, Jesus Nieves, Jesse Hernandez and Anthony Vines.

The Hornets’ three state qualifiers – Padilla, Nieves and Vines – accounted for 157 wins last winter and 98 pins.

Padilla, who rewrote the Hernando County record for most wins in a single season (54), became the Hornets’ first-ever state placer (sixth) at 120 pounds, while Vines tied the Hernando County mark for most pins in a season (39).

Brooks transferred in from NCT, Hartman hasn’t wrestled since his freshman season and Young last competed two years ago.

Additionally, DeJesus will open the season on the bench nursing a knee sprain. His return is unknown.

The biggest positives include Smith, who needs 15 pins to reset the WWHS school mark of 66 set by Padilla, and 37 victories to surpass Padilla for the school record in career wins (120).

“Overall, we’re real young,” described the former Springstead state qualifier Joe Felice. “We have no seniors. This sets us up well for the future. What I like is we have a lot of hard workers in the room.”

The biggest concern, according to Felice, is who’ll fill the leadership roles.

“Jesus (Nieves) could run for president, he talks so well,” noted Felice. “Right now, we don’t have those vocal leaders in the room.”

Though Central finished winless at 0-11 and competed with only eight grapplers last winter, senior and athletically gifted Brandon Brown placed third at states in 1A at 182.

Dr. Curtwright, who assisted Hall of Famer Bob Levija at Springstead in the late 1980s and holds a PhD in education, inherits a team with only two returning lettermen: senior John Templar and junior Adam Keister.

Keister went 4-3-2 at the Weeki Wachee Duals II last winter before quitting the team. Templar, who began competing in mid-January, compiled a 5-6 slate.

At press time, Coach Curtwright’s roster featured 28 grapplers – a huge improvement over the past three seasons.

The former mat skipper at Tarpon Springs, Spruce Creek and Countryside wrestled in high school in Ohio.

Curtwright identified his top three as Keister, Templar and sophomore move-in Paul Zummo.

“Adam is probably our most technically sound wrestler,” described Curtwright. “If he decides to make wrestling a priority he’ll be something. Problem is he’s stretched out thin as the Junior Class President, his good grades, and his commitments to football and tennis.

On Templar, “Could be a stud. He’s probably the strongest guy in our room,” said Curtwright. “And the kid hates to lose. He’s been slowed down by a high ankle sprain that he suffered in football. He’s missed practice because of that injury.”

On Zummo, “He’ll be pretty good. He’ll probably cut down to 145 or 152. You can tell he’s wrestled before,” said Curtwright.

On the Bears’ prospects, “We’ve got three guys with any previous experience on the mats. Everyone else is brand new to the sport,” explained Coach Curtwright. “Basically, we’re starting from scratch with this group. Thank goodness, no one is coming in with bad habits.”

Tyrone Demetrius Goodson, a 1993 CHS alumnus, is looked at as not only one of CHS’ original high-profile athletes, but one of Hernando County’s foremost.

The current 6-foot-3, 215-pound Goodson was a two-sport standout at CHS under football mentor Barry Gardner and veteran basketball skipper John Sedlack.

On the gridiron, Goodson was a two-way performer for the Bears playing quarterback – which he never played until his time at CHS – and free safety.

His athletic ability led to him being named as a junior and senior to the All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Team in 1991-92.

On the hardwood, the gazelle-like Goodson was named All-GCAC as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Goodson, who was widely known for his 40-plus inch vertical leap, was tabbed the GCAC’s Player of the Year in 1992-93.

He concluded his four-year prep career as not only the Bears’ all-time leading scorer, but Hernando County’s leading scorer.

In the ultimate sign of respect, Goodson’s No. 14 jersey was retired as was Harris’ No. 20 jersey following the 2006 season.

Goodson’s soft, pliable hands, tremendous jumping ability and his 4.3 40-yard time eventually yielded a football scholarship to Auburn University. He also wanted to play hoops at Auburn but his football coach, Terry Bowden, talked him out of it.

From 1993-97, Goodson racked up 136 career receptions for 2,283 yards – nearly a 17-yard per catch average – alongside 12 touchdowns.

Goodson latched on to two receptions for 78 yards (highlighted by a 30-yard touchdown reception) in Auburn’s Independence Bowl win in 1996 in Shreveport, La. over Army, 32-29.

In his final collegiate appearance, he snared four passes for 65 yards enabling 10-3 Auburn to solve 7-5 Clemson in the Jan. 2, 1998 Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga., 21-17.

After graduating in 1998, Goodson played sparingly for the St. Louis Rams, Packers and Washington Redskins. Problem was he blew out his left knee three times in three seasons.

These days, the 40-year-old Goodson has “settled down” in Ocala with his girlfriend of the past four years, Kristy Powell.

Their modern family consists of Powell’s two daughters: Hailey, 10, Lily, 7, and the couple’s 17-month-old latest arrival, Tyrone Goodson Jr.

The Goodson family lives on a 10-acre farm in Marion County that includes several horses, a rabbit and a cat.

Goodson was born as the oldest of three children in Brooksville. His mother, Lawanna Riggins, and grandmother, Annie Mae Goodson, continue to call Brooksville home.

As a young man, Goodson said, “I feel like I turned my life around.”

His grandmother and granddad, the late Leo Goodson, along with his aunt, Shirley Waddy, and her husband, John, along with his stepfather Sam Riggins have helped mold Goodson’s life – shielding him away from the troubled streets of south Brooksville.

These days, Goodson receives health benefits from the NFL for injuries he accrued during his short stint in professional ball.

He contends that he can “get around fine” but his days of playing hoops against the likes of NBA Hall of Famer Charley Barkley – a fellow Auburn graduate – are numbered.

To help give back something to children of the next generation, the ex-Bear formed the

Goodson is touting the organization’s first-ever Christmas Mistletoe Ball on Dec. 20 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Hernando County Fairgrounds.

The program is asking area residents to come to the event and donate $20, and bring a toy for an underprivileged child this season.

The event serves as a fundraiser for next summer’s planned Goodson Football Camp in Brooksville. The camp is expected to run 1-2 days and Goodson is soliciting current and former NFL players to act as coaches.

Goodson hopes that December’s event will draw enough public support to run next summer’s camp at a minimal or no cost to the participants.

To date, Goodson’s efforts have attracted corporate sponsors like Wal-Mart, Dollar General, Sam’s Club, Winn Dixie along with a donation from Carlos and Keneisha Santiago from C.G. Transport, Inc.

According to Goodson, other sponsors are sought. For additional information, contact Patricia Goodson at (352) 346-6206 or email her at patgoodson352@aol.com.

According to Goodson, the Christmas Mistletoe Ball’s purpose is to raise awareness of what he’s doing for the community for next year’s planned football camps.

In other current philanthropic gestures, Goodson is running the “Old St. Nick” organization in Marion County, which provides 20-40 children with toys during the holiday season, and “Keep the Faith,” which is donating 40 turkeys to area needy families.

Goodson defended his choice of direction, saying, “I’ve turned down a lot of jobs since my NFL days. Central High wanted me to coach. I don’t mind coaches, but I don’t necessarily like the coaching aspect, particularly through the school system.

“I see my calling as a person who tries to motivate kids. I’d like to teach my own kids the values of community service,” he added. “I don’t really care if Junior turns out to be a horse breeder. But I’d love for my kids to be humble and understand you receive so much more in return when you help others.

“I’ve been very blessed to have received tremendous coaching and support in Brooksville from Coach Gardner, Coach Sedlack and Coach (Steve) Crognale, just to name a few,” he said. “They had a lot to do with my success. I feel like it’s time for me to help others that are not as fortunate.”

Goodson’s takes his legacy serious.

“I busted my butt when I was at Central,” he recalled. “I’d say both Harris and I may be the best athletes to ever come out of Central. I’d like to be remembered as a guy who had a smile on his face, but played the game seriously.

“My mantra is to take it one day at a time and always plan for the future,” added Goodson. “Our kids are our future. I’d like to be remembered as giving something to others.”